Murray pays tribute to Gilbert the master spy

If Andy Murray's progress today depends on how well he thinks his coach has scouted his next opponent, Paul-Henri Mathieu, then it is as certain as these things can be that Murray will reach his fifth quarter-final in six tournaments this year in the Sony Ericsson Open. And if the coach's approval rating is a thermometer of how well a player is performing, then Murray has never been better.

In the eight months during which the colourfully loquacious American and the sardonically critical Scot have been pitched together, never has Brad Gilbert received a more generous testimonial from Murray than now. Asked what was the best thing that Gilbert had conveyed, Murray replied: "I think just everything," which is possibly a different attitude from a few weeks ago when, tongue-in-cheek, he suggested he did not always listen to his coach.

What seems certain is that both Murray's confidence and their relationship have never been better. "Brad knows how I should be playing against a lot of the players," said Murray. "He had to figure out opponent's weaknesses because his game wasn't as good as other players'. But he knew exactly how to get at opponents' weaknesses and that's what he's kind of taught me."

It is ideal that Gilbert has a player with an outstanding ability is to develop in this area. It was notable how Murray attacked fiercely and flatly against Paul Goldstein on Friday - something like he did against Rafael Nadal in Australia - but danced, evaded and darted like a matador against Robert Kendrick on Sunday. Perhaps neither extreme will be the template for dealing with Mathieu, a talented and flexible attacking baseline player, who likes opponents who come at him and capable of playing at a far higher standard than his ranking of No61.

Gilbert will know that the Frenchman has been good enough to beat Andy Roddick, the possible quarter-final opponent for today's winner, and that Mathieu's con- fidence can sometimes drain surprisingly away. Hence Murray may begin with his familiar slow, slow, quick, quick, ambushing rhythms from behind the baseline and be prepared to adapt quickly when he sees what works.

"That's one of the things that I worked on a lot in the off -season was being able to have a game plan A and B when I do play against guys," said Murray, though he was almost underselling himself. Plans C and D seem to exist, too, these days. "I hardly played like that at all last year, the way I played against Goldstein, and I know now I can do it in match."

Despite his attacking performance against Goldstein, Murray was hampered by knocks. "I was not moving so well, I was a bit nervous how my ankle and hip were going to be," said the 19-year-old. "Last week I was moving pretty well but hurt myself against [Tommy] Haas and felt pretty bruised the next morning when I woke up," he said. "I felt pretty fragile. But I feel much better now."

Murray is well aware that he may well need to summon all his reserves of physical and mental strength to defeat Mathieu, a player he rates very highly. The fortunes of Murray and his friend Novak Djokovic continue to run parallel. The Serb was marginally behind the Scot at the start of the year but has just beaten him into the world's top 10, and today Djocovic is likely to reach his fifth quarter- final in his last seven attempts. Djokovic faces Feliciano Lopez and the reward could be a meeting with another Spanish left-hander, Nadal.